Boo Hanks and Dom Flemon's collaborative album released!

Sonny Boy King, an Alabama treasure Sonny Boy King is an Alabama Bluesman that has been with Music Maker for almost seven years. For over twenty-five years he played parties in Alabama, Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland, developing his skills. During that time he has become a one man band with drums, guitar, harmonica, and stomping his feet.    His love of music began when he was fourteen in 1944 Lyons County, Alabama. He started playing guitar at parties and he also worked at a sawmill as a water-boy. Since that time his guitar has supported him for most of his life. He performs wherever people gather at house parties, fish fries, and clubs. After partnering with Music Maker he's played venues including the Byron Bay Blues Festival in Australia, enabling thousands to hear his foot-stomping blues outside of his home community.  As a man that has fathered and raised 33 children, Sonny Boy King has this to say to the next generation: "As for my advice to kids today, they are worried too much about what kind of guitar they have. I tell them, as long as it got the strings on it, play it. The guitar does not play itself. You got to play it. But the most important thing is you have to treat people right, to get treated right." -- Mike  Boo Hanks signs a young fan's wristband, Roots and Leaves Show 6/15 by Cornelius Lewis   Diggin': Live with Captain and Cool I spent this past Friday night in Chapel Hill, N.C., sitting with blues legend Captain Luke as the first Roots and Leaves show took place, as Cool John Ferguson blew out his guitar amp, as John Dee Holeman crooned to a crowd of hundreds.               Thirty minutes in, Luke extinguished one of his cherry cigars and walked onstage for his set with Cool John. The opener, "Hotel Happiness," showcased Luke's smooth baritone voice and John's soft fingers on the electric. Together onstage, the two redefined coolness and stunned a crowd of all ages. This was the finale to my first week interning at Music Maker.               The featured song this week, Captain Luke and Cool John's live rendition of "Rainy Night in Georgia," (not to be confused with Snowy Night in Georgia, which we featured last week) gives new meaning to the word "silk."   Check it out, and if you're in the area, come see Pat "Mother Blues" Cohen and Essie Mae Brooks this Friday at 6:00 p.m. in Southern Village, Chapel Hill for our third Roots and Leaves show. -- Jeremy Jeremy is a summer intern with Music Maker from Hampshire College in Massachusetts.  He is helping us with our audio archive, audio-mixing as well as with general office tasks.  Boo Hanks Collborates with Dom Flemons on "Buffalo Junction" Boo Hanks grew up sharecropping in Vance County, N.C., where he learned to play guitar. Music Maker has helped Boo go from being heard only in his community to playing for thousands at shows and festivals across the country and around the world. Dom Flemons, who won a Grammy in 2011 with the Drops, was at Music Maker the day Hanks first arrived, and their friendship and collaborations grew from that first jam session over the next six years. Hanks' and Flemons' new album Buffalo Junction, named for Hanks' hometown in Virginia, features upbeat, country blues that crosses generational lines. The album highlights Hanks on the guitar and vocals, while Flemons plays a variety of traditional instruments such as the jug, harmonica, bones and also sings backup vocals. Dom Flemons said of the recording experience: "Boo Hanks is a treasure. His vocal and guitar phrases are something so unique and forgotten in the modern world of folk and blues.  He an absolutely engaging songster and it has been a pleasure to have played with him for several years and to be a part of this album which will hopefully present his music to a much wider audience." The Illinois Entertainer calls Buffalo Junction, "Fascinating, important, a singular musical experience, and required listening for blues, folk, and musical history fans alike featuring dazzling picking." Buffalo Junction is now available at musicmaker.org here - and you can see Boo and Dom live this summer! Tour dates are below, more info to come!  8/15 World Café in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 8/16 Joe's Pub in New York City   8/17 Blue Ridge Music Center in Galax, Virginia   8/19 The Hamilton in Washington, D.C. on August 19   Listen:  Captain Luke and Cool John -  Rainy Night in Georgia - Live Quick Links:     Website  Merch  Music

Upcoming Shows: Click here for more info on upcoming events  6/22 - Pat "Mother Blues" Cohen, Essie Mae Brooks -  Music Maker Roots and Leaves, Chapel Hill, N.C., 6-8pm  6/23 - Cool John Ferguson - Sertoma Theatre, Cary, NC, 6-8pm  6/27 - Beverly "Guitar" Watkins - Sweet Georgia Juke Joint  6/29 - Pura Fé Trio, Lakota John Locklear - Music Maker Roots and Leaves, Chapel Hill, N.C., 6-8pm  7/4 - Lakota John and Kin - Carrboro July 4th Celebration, Carrboro, NC, 12:30pm     7/6 - John Dee Holeman - The Eddy Pub, Saxapahaw, NC, 8pm  7/13 - Ironing Board Sam - The Depot, Hillsborough, NC, 8pm  7/14 - Pura Fé - Harrison Hot Springs Festival, Harrison Hot Springs, Canada, 3:40pm 7/14 - Ironing Board Sam - The Whiskey, Durham, NC, 9pm 7/15 - John Dee Holeman, Captain Luke, Big Ron, Ironing Board Sam - Jimmy Williams' "Music Maker" at Waverly Artist Group, Cary, NC, 5-8pm 7/20 - Pura Fé - Folk on the Rocks, Yellowknife, Canada 7/21 - Ironing Board Sam and Big Ron - Saxapahaw Farmer's Market Stage, Saxapahaw, NC, 6pm 7/27 - MM Blues Revue with Beverly Watkins, Albert White, Shelton Powe, Robert Lee Coleman, Nashid and Ardie - Haw River Ballroom, Saxapahaw, NC, 7pm (doors)    Music Maker Relief Foundation, Inc. helps the true pioneers and forgotten heroes of Southern music gain  recognition and meet their day to day needs. We present these musical traditions to the world so American culture will flourish and be preserved for future generations.

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